Honeymoon in Argentina help!

November 3, 2006 8:25 AM

My wife and I will be traveling to Argentina for 2 weeks in January for our honeymoon and could use some suggestions on destinations outside of Buenos Aires.

We plan on either starting or ending our trip in BA but definitely want to hit up at least one more location while we are down there. We are both young, active and physically fit so adventure/hiking suggestions are as welcome as remote beach resorts.

Thanks for all of your help mefi!

posted by phixed to Travel & Transportation around Buenos Aires, Argentina (9 answers total)

In my opinion, you need to go to Iguazú (by plane, but cheap) and Uruguay (by boat). Don't spend more than like 3 or 4 days in BA, and then get out.

Iguazú has your waterfalls, your forests, and trails (some more touristed and sanitized than others). One of my favorite things there is the Sendero Macacu, a two hour walk through grass and trees that ends in a "natural" staircase (read, muddy descent) at a swimming hole from a waterfall. Awesome. More waterfalls than you can shake a stick at.

Uruguay has even more steak than Argentina, gets relatively few tourists, and has a cute capital (Montevideo), beaches, and amazing countryside. If you are overlapping into February at all, you need to be there for the celebration of Yemajá, with parades and beach rituals and parties particular to the Afro-Catholic syncretic religion which is popular in Uruguay (variations of which are also in Brazil and Cuba etc.). The people there are unbelieeeevaaablly friendly and love to talk about their country and anything you want to know about.

I feel like I've posted a lot of BA/AR/UY specific comments here on AskMe, but search is failing me. I'd be happy to follow up on anything more specific if you want. Pictures I took this past January/February are online.
posted by whatzit at 8:41 AM on November 3, 2006

Gah. La llamada de Yemajá is February 2. The beach stuff starts in the afternoon and goes until late, there's also a parade the day after or before, I forget which. Anywhere you stay would know the details.
posted by whatzit at 8:43 AM on November 3, 2006

Second Iguazu, which is unforgettable, and since you like hiking you might want to investigate the Andes. And (as I tell everyone going to BA) have the pizza—it's the best in the world!
posted by languagehat at 8:55 AM on November 3, 2006

You might consider flying to Trelew, renting a car and checking out Peninsula Valdez. If you rent a car, you may need an international driving permit. You can get one from AAA. If you are lucky (like we were) you can stay at the lighthouse there (any guidebook will have it -- I can't recall the name, offhand). It's a spectacular area and you will have peace and quiet and be surrounded by some of the most beautiful open space in the world. There is a lot of wildlife (including penquins!) It won't be crawling with people, either. And the restaurant at the lighthouse is pretty good. You can take an easy whale-watching trip, too. There is no "resort" but it's quite spectacular, nonetheless. We took a horseback riding tour, too.
posted by Lockjaw at 9:16 AM on November 3, 2006

I gotta say, I don't have any specific knowledge of Argentina, but I do have this knowledge: the best money my wife and I spent on our wedding/honeymoon preparation was the money we paid to our honeymoon travel planner. We wanted to go to the southern region of Spain and used a travel agency that specializes in honeymoons; not only did our agent end up making a ton of well-informed recommendations about places to go and things to see, but was able to make arrangements we wouldn't have even known needed to be made, saved us quite a bit on our hotel and car rental expenses (well more than we paid her), and was awesome. I'd strongly recommend that you and your betrothed think about doing the same -- finding a travel agency, perhaps honeymoon-focused, that knows Argentina and let them help you out.

(For those that care, we used MoonRings; I have no affiliation or association with the company other than I'm a person who used their services, found their staff terrific and extremely professional, and immensely appreciated what they were able to do for our honeymoon.)
posted by delfuego at 9:55 AM on November 3, 2006

Get a plane to El Calafate. Visit Perito Moreno glacier, enjoy good meals, then visit Chalten. Just the views of Fitzroy and Cerro Torre are worth the trip.
posted by ig at 11:53 AM on November 3, 2006

Third for Iguazu. Colonia in Uruguay is nice for a day trip, as well.
posted by drobot at 12:32 PM on November 3, 2006

Take the short bus ride to Tigre, where all the houses are built on a river delta. Very impressive. Your hotel should be able to set it up.
posted by milinar at 6:47 PM on November 3, 2006

Another vote for Iguazu and the Moreno glacier. If you have enough time you could always try to get to Torres del Paine in Chile which is utterly astounding.
posted by markdj at 8:28 AM on November 4, 2006